[NVG]

التاريخ: 11-03-2010 الموافق الخميس 25-03-1431هجرية
Mar. 11, 2010
الضحايا: شخص

https://link.brightcove.com/services/...id=71475092001

The single-engine, single-seat plane crashed into the corner of a hangar at Stellar Airpark in Chandler on Thursday afternoon, setting the building on fire and killing the pilot.
Rescuers originally got word that there were two people in the plane, but firefighters only saw one body in the cockpit, said Battalion Chief Paul Nies, a Chandler Fire Department spokesman. The plane was so crushed that it was impossible to know for sure if someone else was in it, he said.

The P-51 Mustang, a 1944 fighter plane, is registered to Hirani Oil Arizona LLC, which also owns a hangar at the airpark, according to deed records. Naziruden Hirani operates that and another company, Hirani Enterprises, which owns apartment complexes and shopping centers in the East Valley.

Those who saw the airplane said it was acting strangely as it flew above the airpark.

Russell was watching the planes take off and land with her two small daughters at Desert Breeze Park, just north of the small private airpark. She saw the olive-colored plane with an orange-and-red nose appear to come in for a landing.

The plane, she said, was flying low, fast and at an angle, making a sharp 90-degree turn toward the airport.

"I heard three sputtering sounds, and then I saw a fireball," she said. "I thought, 'Oh my God, that plane just blew up,' "

The airpark houses about 160 aircraft, nearly all of which are single-engine planes and many of them vintage. The airport, south of Chandler Boulevard near McClintock Drive, is near neighborhoods with upscale custom homes.

Hangars at the airport were evacuated after the crash as a cloud of smoke rose into the air. Those who responded couldn't determine the victim's age or gender, Nies said.

Identification could take days and is likely to require dental records.

The body probably will not be removed until today, when the Federal Aviation Administration completes its initial investigation, he added.

The National Transportation Safety Board also will join the investigation and will issue a probable cause for the crash in the coming months, said Ian Gregor, an FAA spokesman.

Alana Holley, a friend of the family and former employee of Hirani Enterprises, confirmed that the plane that crashed was owned by the company. She said Hirani has a pilot's license, but that the family was too distraught to talk to her Thursday about details of what happened.

Planes attempting a landing at the airport have crashed a number of times over the years.

Most recently, in June 2007, a twin-engine Cessna 340A airplane clipped a house and crashed into a residential street just west of Stellar Airpark. The NTSB found that the plane had engine failure after it ran out of fuel.

The pilot, who survived, took off from Stellar, extended his landing gear, got odd readings in his cockpit and decided to return.

While trying to land, the plane clipped one home, hit the roof of another, destroyed a tree and a parked pickup and plowed through a brick wall.